Climber's Body Recovered on Mount St. Helens

The body of a veteran climber who fell 1,500 feet into the crater atop Mount St. Helens was recovered Tuesday after he spent more than a day in the snow, authorities said.

Photo: Climber's Body Recovered on Mount St. Helens

Clouds and wind had hampered efforts to reach Joseph Bohlig, 52, who was posing for a picture Monday on the rim of the dormant crater when a snow overhang gave way and he fell into the volcano, The Associated Press reports.

A Navy helicopter found Mr Bohlig partially covered by snowfall on its second pass of the mountain.

Richard Bohlig, the climber's 84-year-old father, said: 'We're sorry that he's gone, that he didn't make it. 'He was doing something he enjoyed very much. That's all I can say.'

He said that his son was an avid mountaineer who had climbed peaks in many countries, but Mount St. Helens was his home mountain, Daily Mail informs.

According to Herald Sun, Mount St Helens - famous for a deadly explosion in 1980 which killed 57 people - is an active volcano in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest of Oregon, in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire geological region.

Thousands of people climb to the crater's rim each year, but permits are required to go above 4800 feet (1463m).

A warning on the US Forest Service Web site said the crater rim is "unstable and can be hazardous at any time".